BACK AT THE PLANTATION, WE hurried through the slave quarters and were almost back to the house when Mary Grace’s cry reached us: “No, Masa, please don’t.”

Frantic at the panic that was evident in her voice, I ran as fast as my heavy, soaked skirt would allow.

I heard Jimmy’s voice. “Masa, Miss Willow won’t take much lakin’ to you harming her nigra.”

“This way,” Whitney squeaked, pulling me toward a nearby woodshed.

“Shut the blazes up, nigger. Go away and mind your own business.” I recognized Rufus’s voice.

I heard the sound of the first punch as I rounded the corner of the shed, quickly followed by the second, which I saw Rufus deliver to the side of Jimmy’s face. Yates and Dave held Jimmy’s arms behind his back. Mary Grace was pinned by fear against the shed, her blouse torn and her breast exposed.

I’ll kill him! I seethed. “Mary Grace, to the carriage,” I demanded and when she hesitated, I yelled, “Now!” Mary Grace snapped out of her daze and bolted past us, holding her blouse closed.

“Release my slave this instant,” I yelled at Rufus’s cronies. “And if you have any wisdom in those knuckle-brain heads of yours, you will not say another word.”

The men knew better than to harm us or they would answer to Mr. Barry. They loosened their grip on Jimmy, who jerked his arms free and moved out of their reach.

Turning my anger on Rufus, I clenched my fist tight and with all my strength, I swung it square at the center of his nose. He squealed as his nose made a crunching sound and started squirting blood. “You broke my nose!”

For a second I was amazed at my own strength, until the pain throbbed through my hand. I suppressed the urge to groan and shake out the pain.

Whitney barged in to back me up. “Get yourselves back to the fields, you idiots.” Her nostrils flared.

I examined Jimmy’s face.

“I’m all right, Miss Willie.”

“To the carriage. We leave for Livingston immediately.”

“Yes, Miss Willie,” he said, keeping an eye on the men, unsure if he should leave us unattended.

“It will be fine, Jimmy. They know better than to harm us. My father will have their hides if they are stupid enough to touch us.”

With one last look at the men, Jimmy scampered away.

“A nigger lover, aren’t ya, pretty one?” Rufus jeered, his voice muffled by the dirty handkerchief he held over his nose. “It all makes perfect sense now. Well, you’d better watch your back, Missy, because I will find you and there will be hell to pay. I promise you that.” He glared balefully at me.

His threat was real and it quickened my heart. But I willed myself to remain steadfast; I couldn’t let him see that his threat rattled me.

Whitney pushed herself between us, her height allowing her to tower over the smaller man. “Are you threatening a guest on my land?” She gave him a shove backward. “I will inform my father of this. And you know how Father’s social status is everything to him. Let me assure you, you will suffer his temper, and we both know that isn’t pleasant, now, is it?” She boldly moved forward. “I’m sure you are aware of how powerful a man Miss Hendricks’s father is.” She smirked, looking him up and down.

A nerve twitched in Rufus’s face. It did not change the bold, unspoken warning in the last look he gave us before he wandered off. We had made a deadly enemy, and it terrified me.